The best camera is the one that you have with you

Canon 5D mark II, Canon 24-105mm F/4.0 Lens, 1/125 sec at f/8.0, iso 1600

Canon 40D, Canon 24-105mm F/4.0 Lens, 1/250 sec at f/8.0, iso 125

Pick Your Own! Apple Picking at the Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, New York

It's apple picking time again here in the northeast and this time we went to the Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, NY

A few years ago, they had the pick your own site right behind the farm store so you could easily buy your cider doughnuts and pick your apples without transferring to another site. This time they want you to drive about a block past the store to do the picking there. I'm not sure if they did this because the trees in the back was already picked but I do think that it is a good idea because it clears up the crowd and makes it easier for parking.

Once there, you just pay for what size bag you want and your off on your own to pick to your hearts content! They only had the honeycrisp, Macintosh and Gala when we went and you can only pick the honeycrisps with the small (1/2 bushel) bags. We've never had that variety before but it was a clear favorite when we finally got to taste it. They had a yellow ribbon for the honey crisp trees.

Here's a quick tip... Try to head to the outer edges of the orchard because they are usually still full of apples. It's a bit of a walk but worth it to get bigger and nicer looking fruit. 

Just remember that you have to bring all of those apples back to your car at the end of the day. That's a LOT of apples!

We only bought the small bag and that's still a whole lot of apples!

It was a fun day of apple picking and we're still thinking of different ways to use them all up. We had a great time over at Indian Ladder and make sure that you bring your friends along to share the fun!

INDIAN LADDER FARMS
http://www.indianladderfarms.com/

342 Altamont Voorheesville Rd.

Altamont, NY 12009

Bug Light - The Portland Breakwater Lighthouse

The Farm Store and Cider Doughnuts at the Indian Ladder Farms

It's almost the end of Summer and that means it's apple picking season here in the North East. The last time we went was 5 years ago so now is a good time to do it again and this time we went to the Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, New York.



The farm has a very nice cafe and farm store where they sell various stuff but it does get really crowded this time of the year from all the people tying to buy apple cider and their famous cider doughnuts. So if you are planning on just getting the doughnuts prepare to spend some time in the lines because it can get really long.


If you are just going to get some apples and cider a faster way is to get it in the barn instead of the farm store as the lines are shorter.



There are also a bunch of kid friendly activities that you can do too. They have a petting zoo setup where you can pet some farm animals and they also have tractor rides as well as pony rides! Make sure to visit the cafe to see the bee hive. At first I though it was just a model but it was full of live bees!



Enjoying some freshly made cider doughnuts! You can see them being made fresh through the green windows.



One of the main reasons that we went to the farm was to do some apple picking. A few years ago they used to have the "Pick your Own" site right next to the store but now they have it a good block away. You can still walk to the site if you really want to but they suggest that you bring your car and drive over which is a really good idea since you'll probably be bringing a few extra pounds of Honey Crisp and Macintosh apples on your way back. I'll upload some of the pictures of our experience in another post. :)



All in all it was a very nice experience that everybody should try doing at least once during the season. Although the lines where a bit long, nothing beats freshly made cider doughnuts! Cheers!

INDIAN LADDER FARMS
http://www.indianladderfarms.com/
342 Altamont Voorheesville Rd.

Altamont, NY 12009
Google Map

Downtown Troy and Uncle Sam

We recently went to downtown Troy to go to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. We had a blast with all the good food and music but the other thing that I really enjoyed was how awesome the architecture is down there.

We also saw that there was also a lot of references towards Uncle Sam and it turns out that Troy, NY is the official home of the real "Uncle Sam"

I always thought that "Uncle Sam" was just a fictional character in those World War I posters trying to convince you to join the army. It was actually based on a real person named Samuel Wilson! You can read up on the history here.

The interesting part of this is that we saw a few Uncle Sam statues all over the area.

A quick google reveals that it is part of a public art installation and that there's a total of 30 Uncle Sam's in Troy! Check out the list of Uncle Sams over here.

I guess we still have a few more Uncle Sams to go!


Downtown Troy
http://www.downtowntroy.org/
The Uncle Sam Project

Troy Waterfront Farmers Market

If you are looking for a good place to go on a Saturday Morning then the Troy Waterfront Farmer's Market is a good place to start!



 The Summer Market is open September to October from 9am to 2pm every Saturday with a host of vendors selling locally grown produce, as well as artisan breads, pastas and various meat products. 



There's free on street parking but your best bet is to park at the Uncle Sam Parking Garage at the River St.


There's also a bunch of really good food stalls there to try. There's one that sells curry which looked really good but it had a ton of people lined up so we gave up. We'll probably try it the next time we're there.


We ended up having Spanakopita and Sarma with some Baklava from Euro Delicacies. Yum!
All in all it was a good way to spend a Saturday morning. We really enjoyed it and we'll definitely be coming back for more. 


Troy Waterfront Farmers Market
www.troymarket.org
https://twitter.com/troymarket